Enrichment of Anaerobic Syngas-Converting Communities and Isolation of a Novel Carboxydotrophic Acetobacterium wieringae Strain JM

Syngas is a substrate for the anaerobic bioproduction of fuels and valuable chemicals. In this study, anaerobic sludge was used for microbial enrichments with synthetic syngas and acetate as main substrates. The objectives of this study were to identify microbial networks (in enrichment cultures) for the conversion of syngas to added-value products, and to isolate robust, non-fastidious carboxydotrophs. Enrichment cultures produced methane and propionate, this last one an unusual product from syngas fermentation. A bacterium closely related to Acetobacterium wieringae was identified as most prevalent (87% relative abundance) in the enrichments. Methanospirillum sp. and propionate-producing bacteria clustering within the genera Anaerotignum and Pelobacter were also found. Further on, strain JM, was isolated and was found to be 99% identical (16S rRNA gene) to A. wieringae DSM 1911^T. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) value between the genomes of strain JM and A. wieringae was 77.1%, indicating that strain JM is a new strain of A. wieringae. Strain JM can grow on carbon monoxide (100% CO, total pressure 170 kPa) without yeast extract or formate, producing mainly acetate. Remarkably, conversion of CO by strain JM showed shorter lag phase than in cultures of A. wieringae DSM 1911^T, and about four times higher amount of CO was consumed in 7 days. Genome analysis suggests that strain JM uses the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway for the conversion of one carbon compounds (CO, formate, CO₂/H₂). Genes encoding bifurcational enzyme complexes with similarity to the bifurcational formate dehydrogenase (Fdh) of Clostridium autoethanogenum are present, and possibly relate to the higher tolerance to CO of strain JM compared to other Acetobacterium species. A. wieringae DSM 1911^T grew on CO in medium containing 1 mM formate.

Corrigendum: Regulation of multiple carbon monoxide consumption pathways in anaerobic bacteria

[This corrects the article on p. 147 in vol. 2, PMID: 21808633.].

Anaerobic carboxydotrophic bacteria in geothermal springs identified using stable isotope probing

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a potential energy and carbon source for thermophilic bacteria in geothermal environments. Geothermal sites ranging in temperature from 45 to 65°C were investigated for the presence and activity of anaerobic CO-oxidizing bacteria. Anaerobic CO oxidation potentials were measured at up to 48.9 μmoles CO g⁻¹ (wet weight) day⁻¹ within five selected sites. Active anaerobic carboxydotrophic bacteria were identified using ¹³CO DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) combined with pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes amplified from labeled DNA. Bacterial communities identified in heavy DNA fractions were predominated by Firmicutes, which comprised up to 95% of all sequences in ¹³CO incubations. The predominant bacteria that assimilated ¹³C derived from CO were closely related (>98% 16S rRNA gene sequence identity) to genera of known carboxydotrophs including Thermincola, Desulfotomaculum, Thermolithobacter, and Carboxydocella, although a few species with lower similarity to known bacteria were also found that may represent previously unconfirmed CO-oxidizers. While the distribution was variable, many of the same OTUs were identified across sample sites from different temperature regimes. These results show that bacteria capable of using CO as a carbon source are common in geothermal springs, and that thermophilic carboxydotrophs are probably already quite well known from cultivation studies.

Evidence for horizontal gene transfer of anaerobic carbon monoxide dehydrogenases

Carbon monoxide (CO) is commonly known as a toxic gas, yet both cultivation studies and emerging genome sequences of bacteria and archaea establish that CO is a widely utilized microbial growth substrate. In this study, we determined the prevalence of anaerobic carbon monoxide dehydrogenases ([Ni,Fe]-CODHs) in currently available genomic sequence databases. Currently, 185 out of 2887, or 6% of sequenced bacterial and archaeal genomes possess at least one gene encoding [Ni,Fe]-CODH, the key enzyme for anaerobic CO utilization. Many genomes encode multiple copies of [Ni,Fe]-CODH genes whose functions and regulation are correlated with their associated gene clusters. The phylogenetic analysis of this extended protein family revealed six distinct clades; many clades consisted of [Ni,Fe]-CODHs that were encoded by microbes from disparate phylogenetic lineages, based on 16S rRNA sequences, and widely ranging physiology. To more clearly define if the branching patterns observed in the [Ni,Fe]-CODH trees are due to functional conservation vs. evolutionary lineage, the genomic context of the [Ni,Fe]-CODH gene clusters was examined, and superimposed on the phylogenetic trees. On the whole, there was a correlation between genomic contexts and the tree topology, but several functionally similar [Ni,Fe]-CODHs were found in different clades. In addition, some distantly related organisms have similar [Ni,Fe]-CODH genes. Thermosinus carboxydivorans was used to observe horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of [Ni,Fe]-CODH gene clusters by applying Kullback–Leibler divergence analysis methods. Divergent tetranucleotide frequency and codon usage showed that the gene cluster of T. carboxydivorans that encodes a [Ni,Fe]-CODH and an energy-converting hydrogenase is dissimilar to its whole genome but is similar to the genome of the phylogenetically distant Firmicute, Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans. These results imply that T carboxydivorans acquired this gene cluster via HGT from a relative of C. hydrogenoformans.

Regulation of multiple carbon monoxide consumption pathways in anaerobic bacteria

Carbon monoxide (CO), well known as a toxic gas, is increasingly recognized as a key metabolite and signaling molecule. Microbial utilization of CO is quite common, evidenced by the rapid escalation in description of new species of CO-utilizing bacteria and archaea. Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH), the protein complex that enables anaerobic CO-utilization, has been well-characterized from an increasing number of microorganisms, however the regulation of multiple CO-related gene clusters in single isolates remains unexplored. Many species are extraordinarily resistant to high CO concentrations, thriving under pure CO at more than one atmosphere. We hypothesized that, in strains that can grow exclusively on CO, both carbon acquisition via the CODH/acetyl CoA synthase complex and energy conservation via a CODH-linked hydrogenase must be differentially regulated in response to the availability of CO. The CO-sensing transcriptional activator, CooA is present in most CO-oxidizing bacteria. Here we present a genomic and phylogenetic survey of CODH operons and cooA genes found in CooA-containing bacteria. Two distinct groups of CooA homologs were found: one clade (CooA-1) is found in the majority of CooA-containing bacteria, whereas the other clade (CooA-2) is found only in genomes that encode multiple CODH clusters, suggesting that the CooA-2 might be important for cross-regulation of competing CODH operons. Recombinant CooA-1 and CooA-2 regulators from the prototypical CO-utilizing bacterium Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans were purified, and promoter binding analyses revealed that CooA-1 specifically regulates the hydrogenase-linked CODH, whereas CooA-2 is able to regulate both the hydrogenase-linked CODH and the CODH/ACS operons. These studies point to the ability of dual CooA homologs to partition CO into divergent CO-utilizing pathways resulting in efficient consumption of a single limiting growth substrate available across a wide range of concentrations.